AUTHENTIC GREEK RECIPES - THE BOOK

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On Saturday night, 15-year old Alexandros went out with his friends as usual. But this time Alexandros didn't come home. It was every parent's nightmare come true.

He didn't go to the usual cafeteria with his friends, but went with his friend Nikos, who was celebrating his name day, along with some others to another cafeteria. It was near the area Exarheia, the so-called "anarchists' ghetto", and as happens all too frequently, there were confrontations between the anarchists and the police.

A police car drove by the cafeteria where Alexandros and his friends were, and at that moment - according to the people who were there - a couple of the anarchists came by and threw some objects at the police car and shouted at them. They then ran off.

The two policemen got out of the car and walked back to the group of friends. Having worked for years in the area, they had developed their own "attitude" to young people. They shouted at the kids there in a demonstration of authority, and unfortunately the kids shouted back and threw a couple of empty plastic bottles.

A few seconds later, Alexandros was lying on the ground with his friend shouting, "He hasn't got a pulse!"

The two policemen were casually walking away.

Alexandros had a bullet in his chest. A bullet fired from a gun in the hands of someone who should never have been allowed to have one.

Alexandros was from a 'middle-class' family and had nothing to do with the extremists and anarchists, yet the anarchists used his death as an excuse to rampage and riot and set fire to the whole of Athens city centre. Several politicians used the incident to fire blame one side on the other.

But there were the others, mainly schoolchildren like Alex, who were shocked and angered in a way they had never been before and protested without violence. There is now a Facebook group which has been formed for him - Alexandros Grigoropoulos (it's mostly in Greek) - and there are already over 90.000 members since yesterday!

His parents? As a parent myself, I can't even allow myself to imagine it. Your child that you have nurtured through pregnancy, infancy and then played with, worried about, shouted at.... isn't there any more. I just won't allow myself to think about it.

Today Alexandros will be buried. His parents will have to live the rest of their lives...

There will be more demonstrations, anger, rioting, violence....

But one thing is certain.

Alexandros will never come home again.

This is Eric Clapton's song "Tears in Heaven" which he wrote when he lost his own child.